The Alternative Armies Blog

Welcome to the Alternative Armies blog. This blog tells you all about what we are up to and it is where we post our latest tabletop gaming news and articles.

We cover Flintloque and Slaughterloo, High Fantasy, Other Ranges as well as our 15mm scale fantasy, science fiction and historical ranges.

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Friday, 22 January 2016

VNT Undead and Monsters Fantasy Range released with Free Miniature and Offers!

Wow! Alternative Armies has now completed a big task in getting the VNT (Various Nasty Things) Undead and Monsters part of our classic 28mm scale white metal high fantasy range re-released! The VNT codes in production are now online as well as three big multitude packs.. There are sixty five infantry miniatures, an artillery piece, a chariot, a flying wraith, ogres, trolls, demonic tree, grizzly owls and a fantastic Splendorous Djinn too! A lot to choose from covering monsters, skeletons, zombies, vampires, wraiths, lizardmen and more types. We also have some great select offers for you on the VNT range. These are valid until Valentines Day 14th February. Here we go! Go HERE and HERE.

Every Order placed with us that includes one or more codes from our high fantasy range (VNT Undead and Monsters, DH Dwarves, OH Goblins, Orcs and Dogmen even Asgard Barbarians) from single miniatures to packs to multitudes or even our excellent Dwarf Runic Golem will automatically get a free miniature. This free miniature is VNT29-02 Stricken Adventurer worth 2.00GBP.

We have reduced the normal prices of several packs by 15% until Valentines Day. These are the VNT18 Orrid Ogres II, VNT19 Ogre Cavalry, VNT20 Anti-Paladins, VNT30 Undead Chariot and the mighty VNT32 The Splendorous Djinn. We have three multitudes that feature 10% off list prices for all the packs they contain. Plus if you order three of a multitude (using the drop down menu on the product page) you can save an additional ten percent meaning 20% off list prices!

If you are interested I put some effort into little fiction snippets to go with the packs to make the experience of our website a little more fun that the usual dry stuff you find. Here are most of them and if you want to find the miniatures they refer to just look to the VNT code and its in either the Undead or Monster page:

The Undead (VNT1,2,4)

"We made a mistake when we failed to bury the fallen in deep corpse pits. A mistake that cost us all dear at Black Heart Lake. The army marched past the foul shores of that dead lake expecting to face only the fell lords and their minions. Little did we know that those evil doers had the services of a great Necromancer who had followed us and raised the dead. Corpse pits provide rich fruit and since this fruit had not been buried, only piled with those we had slain it meant that the army of the dead had caught up with us. On two fronts we split and I for my sins survived only by shedding my axe and mail and swimming the slimy waters of the lake. Even now I can hear the screams and the endless creaking and brittle motions of bones ending life. Dead sockets where eyes had once been."

The Ogres (VNT3,18,19)

“Some would say that you would have to be desperate to hire Ogres into your army. After all they are savages as quick to eat you as to knuckle their foreheads and follow a manlings orders. In fact few of the hamlets along the camberly road would allow our men at arms to billet in their hovels for fear of the big brutes that trailed behind cleavers and clubs in hairy hands. It could have put a fine halt to our campaign against the Dwarves and no mistake but our commander was a wily one and did not give the short arses the chance to profit from our choice of warriors. In the dawn of the first day of the march he paid handsomely a farmer for his whole sty of swine. That put things right with the villagers as we marched through. Some of the peasants even came outside to gape at the Ogres. Those friendly, well fed Ogres. Each of them with a whole pig stuffed into the gap between belly and its belt notches!”

The Skeletons (VNT13,14,15,16,23,24,30)

“Bones long buried. Bones long away from the warmth of the sun. Bones that have served their purpose in life and now rest deep in the cold soil. Bones that due to the dark arts of the Necromancers now serve a new purpose no longer buried and immune to the warmth of the sun overhead. Rattling and creaking with the clank of rusted armour the Skeletons that were once Men take to the field of battle ahead of their liche lords. Ranks numerous marching with sword and spear, bow and axe leering with empty eye sockets and hanging loose jaws. Sickening ordered steps bring them ever closer as their chariots pulled by long dead horses enter the fray and bolt throwers served by Skeletons fire iron at our terrified lines. Your sword will slip between ribs and your arrows pass straight through with no effect so to mace and hammer. Smash them and send these bones back to rest.”

The Zombies (VNT10,11,12)

“Soil pushed aside or pooled water slipping from slumped forms it is the moan and the smell that gives away the Zombie. Risen back to unlife by the dark arts of the Necromancers these decent dead are put back to the task of war against the living. Take heart and stand stout despite your fear. Look not to the swollen and distended bellies, to the loose flesh of the legs and the arms and never look to the face for there is a chance that you will see one known to you. It is not unheard of for Men to go raving mad when gazing upon the face of a lost brother, a lost wife or a lost child. Grip your sword tightly and drive in hard avoiding the clumsy swings against you and the purifying liquids that burst forth upon your strike lest you fall and become like them.”

The Anti-Paladins (VNT20)

“We rode north as one. A thousand Men sworn by the mother church to defend the lands against the darkness and perversion that threatened us. Little did we know that the darkness lingers not deep from the surface in some Men. As we rode the voices whispers and shadows lucked in the forests and soon one then another and another fell away until when we came to the snow line there were but four hundred left and we had seen no foe. It was then our faith was splintered as ahead we saw our brother knights but they were not as they had been. Twisted and filled with the bane of life they were now of the darkness. Evil is all the more when once it was good.”

The Vampire Legion (VNT21)

“Do not be left on the field of battle when the night falls for then is the most danger when fighting those of unlife. Clad in plate and mail that glitters with something magic and ancient these knights speak no tongue known to Men of the present age. Fighting with the strength of ten mortal warriors and seemingly without tire it is when the sun withdraws that their nature becomes apparent. Those who lay with struggle and bleed from wounds are found and then consumed of their blood, their vigour drained to a dead pale. If numbers are lost to the vampires they will raise a new cadre from the wounded upon whom they feast.”

The Wraiths (VNT28)

“Keep your wits about you and strain your hearing to the utmost for it will perhaps save your life. They do not so much walk as glide and no breath passes from them. Speed and strength contained within a robe that moves as it is alive but seems to contain no form at all. Once given a goal they will seek until the end of time to bring death to their prey. A blade of iron thrust into the robe will work as will spells and incantations. But listen, always listen for there will be little time for preparation when the Wraiths come for you.”

The Necromancers (VNT31)

“When you look at a child what do you see? Blue eyes, a mop of unruly hair and an eager demeanour to life to the fullest and have fun doing just that. So how can a child go from this to what we know to be the enemy of all life? What cruelty, what bane, what evil was done to a young mind to turn it to a Necromancer? What took a soul and turned it black as coal? Perhaps a wizard's apprentice looked to the wrong book and in time it turned him. Perhaps a callow youth turned a wrong step and fell into a crypt where the corpse of a vanquished Necromancer resided and it poisoned his mind. In the end it makes no difference for a Necromancer is no Man. It, not he, is an instrument of the dark gods and aims only to turn all life to death and to send a tide of the Undead to make it happen. When I look at a child...I feel fear.”

Primitive Lizardmen (VNT7)

“I drew my sword and thought us assailed by bandits or perhaps savages that called this hot and humid swamp their home. I was prepared for this and the edge of my blade was keen and sharp. When these creatures burst from the jungle I was stunned, just for a moment. They were not Men but rather man sized lizards that walked on two legs. They carried stone axes and flint topped spears and it was apparent to me that robbery was not their goal. They looked not at me but rather at my sword. Steel was their goal! Well they could try and take it. Lizard skin makes excellent water tight boots.”

Grizzly Owls (VNT8)

“Those damn mages! I sleep light at the best of times being in the woods with that hooting keeping me awake. But this is too much! Sure the hooting stopped but then at my door is a knocking like an axe head on the timbers. I thought it was Erik come early for his firewood so I opened the door in my smock alone. By the gods it was a ruddy Bear! No not a bear more like an Owl. No neither of those it was the size of a bear covered in fur but its head and its clawed hands were those of the night bird. I think it was my scream that saved me as it give the thing a shock and caused it to take flight. Well try to take flight, it just jumped and smashed its head into the beams of my hut. I slammed the door and then grabbed my sword and my mail. It was gone by the time I went back outside but tracks showed at least two more of them. The smell of magic was thick in the air. Those damn mages! I have a good mind to go over to those twin high towers and give the two of them a piece of my mind..but then what would they do to me if the Owls annoyed them enough for that curse?”

Trolls (VNT9)

“Up in the hills and the mountains, in the caves where no one dares go live the Trolls. Eating sheep, eating men, eating rocks. Eating all they can find and when there is no more to find down they come into the valleys and to the villages. Do you know what it takes to kill a Troll? Neither do I. Certainly it is more than we could manage. Arrows by the dozen just stuck in its hide. Blades broken and jutted from its body. The bloody thing just stood there with three fingers up its left nostril and its mouth hanging open. We only got it to move when Erik went about its rear and broke the tip of his pike off in its bum hole. Then it moved all right! Like a bolt of lightening right across the paddock, straight through the stables and off up the slope. We cheered and headed for the ale house. But not Erik...the Troll was loose of bowel and he needed a wash with the pigs!”

Cockatrice (VNT26)

“It be a monster of magic I tell you. The head of a roosting bird and the body too, it has a tail topped with a wicked arrow like sting. Leathery bat like wings and a beak that could pierce plate armour. It is bigger than a war horse and some say its gaze can poison a Man to near instant death. Me thinks it might have come from misty Albion in origin but much smaller being from a yoke less egg sat upon by a toad. When you face it lower your visor and strike hard using a shield to guard from the beak and the claws upon its feet. Strike hard and fast for its breast. How do I know this? I have killed a Cockatrice found in Verhell and it made for fine roasting and eating!”

The Splendorous Djinn (VNT32)

“You cannot control me mortal nor bend me to your will. Without the flask, the bottle of my enslavement, I am free to act as I please. I may choose to return to my dimension or to send you there in my stead. I may elect to shift shape to that of a demon which will core your bones or to take the fleshy guise of a maiden which will sour your loins. I could crush you or stretch you so tall your head will cloud touch. But I will stay my act if you wish for it. I can make dreams real and make gold of purest air. Trick you? Never. It is not our way. Now...go on wish.”